Short-Run Effects of Parental Job Loss on Child Health

Recent research suggests that parental job loss has negative effects on children's outcomes, including their academic achievement and long-run educational and labor market outcomes. In this paper we turn our attention to the effects of parental job loss on children's health. We combine health data from 16 waves of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which allows us to use a fixed-effects specification and still have a large sample of parental job displacements. We find that paternal job loss is harmful to children's physical and mental health, particularly among children in low-socioeconomic status families. By contrast, we find that maternal job loss does not have detrimental effects on child health. Increases in public health insurance coverage compensate for close to half of the loss in private coverage that follows parental displacement, and we find no significant changes in medical-care utilization.US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Analysis (ASPE) - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) [1H79AE000100-1]12 month embargo; published 01 January 2019This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu